Proper Play vs. Results in Poker

As you probably already know, making the proper play in poker isn’t always rewarded with the results you like to see. Whether you suffer from a bad beat or your great bluff gets called, it’s important to always separate the proper play from the results at the poker table. In the short term, the results don’t always reflect the correct play.

Any time you win or lose a large pot, save that hand history and look at it again later. Don’t worry about the results; worry about how you played the hand. Ask yourself if there is any way you could have won more with your winners or lost less with your losers. And no, saying “Sure, I could have won more if the river didn’t bring that stupid spade!” doesn’t count.

In the long term, your results are all that matters. Over the course of months and years, if you’re winning money, you know you’re doing something right. But to even get to that point, you first need to do away with the concept of results. In the short term, the results don’t tell you the whole story.

This is especially true when studying individual hands. You don’t want to focus on the results in any single hand because the results don’t necessarily represent how well you played that hand. If you got it all-in as a major underdog but caught a lucky card on the river, the results have nothing to do with how you played the hand. It’s important to look past the results so you can analyze your play without bias.

One of the best ways to analyze your play without bias is to save your hand histories and discuss them with other poker players. It’s difficult to remain completely neutral when analyzing your own play. Join some poker forums and post your hand histories for other players to comment on. At the very least, it generates discussion that keeps those thinking gears turning.       

Distance Yourself from the Results

In order to learn from your play and to continue playing correctly at the tables, it’s necessary to distance yourself from the results of any single hand or session. The only thing you should worry about is how well you play each hand. If you focus on your play, the results will follow.

This also means keeping your temper in check at the tables. No matter how horrible a bad beat you suffer, you must work on staying cool at the tables. It’s easier said than done but if you work at it; you’ll eventually be able to shrug off bad beats like nothing. At first, just work on not kicking the dog, then work on keeping your colorful language to a minimum. After a while, you’ll feel the anger less and less. Instead, you’ll focus on analyzing your play to make sure you played each street correctly.

By distancing yourself at the tables, you’ll also be able to play entire sessions without the results of any singular hand affecting your play. This will lead to you making more money because you’ll be able to play longer sessions with a cool, collected mindset. Your long term results will reflect this and you’ll have more money in the bank.